What We Do

What We Do

Ancient traditional ideologies in African communities are founded on communal development. This has impacted ‘the African’ in the sense that he/she thinks of “We” rather than “I”. Therefore, to achieve Ridhika, Africans must ‘work together to grow together’. At CAJPHR, we strongly believe that growth in Africa can be achieved through widespread sensitization and capacity building. We strengthen the capacity of communities in the continent by helping them to come up with long lasting solutions gearing towards development and Ridhika Afrika.

Through the voluntary actions of individuals who have chosen to share our goals and pursue our interests, we conduct trainings, campaigns, rallies, symposiums, and town hall meetings. We distribute books and other informative materials on peace, justice and human rights. We host television and radio programmes on subjects related to our values, vision and mission. We also invite experts and practitioners from different parts of the world to Africa, to build capacity of their contemporaries and exchange ideas on peace, justice and human rights. In general, we engage in dialogues for justice, peace and human rights in Africa.

Our Departments

The Capacity Building Project in International Criminal Law (the Project) is a project that targets law students and lawyers at the earliest stage of their careers; it hopes to further the interest of African lawyers in International Criminal law. The Project provides Judges, prosecutors, and other legal professionals with information on how they can investigate international crimes and execute justice in their domestic jurisdiction, after a gross violation of international humanitarian law.

The Project will inform criminal law professionals and law students on core principles of International Criminal law, practices and procedures for prosecuting crimes that violate international humanitarian law, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Rome Statute, and employment opportunities in international criminal law.

CAJPHR developed the Project as a response to the confusion that surrounds International Criminal law, the International Criminal courts jurisdiction, the Rome Statue, and Principle of Complementarity in domestic jurisdictions. Our capacity building project offers Judges, Lawyers, and law students an opportunity to interact with experts in international criminal law.

CAJPHR has developed two approaches in which the Project will be carried out.

Top to Bottom Approach: CAJPHR will accompany international criminal law experts and practitioners from international courts, academia, non-governmental organisations, and other international justice institutions in the Netherlands to African countries; where they will hold seminars, workshops, lectures and interactive sessions to share their knowledge and expertise concerning the practice of international criminal law.

Bottom to Top Approach:CAJPHR hosts mid-career legal experts and other professionals working to achieve justice and ensure accountability in their home country. The Project will give them first-hand practical experience of international criminal justice in The Hague, the City of Peace and Justice. The five days in The Hague exposes participants to a global network of criminal law professionals and other experts that are working for world peace and justice.

At Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights, we are interested in empowering young women of African descent who are disillusioned, hopeless and helpless, to the point it manifests incapacity to achieve their life/career goals. We achieve this by giving them the tools that would enable them to “Renew their minds, Re-state their goals, Re-brand their lives & Re-tell their stories”.

The objective of the women empowerment project is therefore, to re-kindle the spirit of excellence in the minds of such women through motivation, coaching, information, education and training. Through these means, we hope to pull up women who have low self-esteem, inferiority complex, depression, fear and are generally helpless in their present location outside their home countries.

Research has shown that migration whether positive or negative has side effects on women. Many female migrants and refugees are exposed to unspeakable challenges; some of them have become victims of identity crisis, sexual and domestic abuse. No doubt, these dwindle their chances of having a successful career and a fulfilled life. In the same vein, lack of mentorship, information, modelling, coaching and motivation in the face of these challenges has caused young ladies of African descent residing in foreign lands to drop out of school, go into drugs or alcohol, give into trauma, depression and other forms of mental or psychological situations.

Bearing in mind that these discouraged women need our support, we are creating platforms where they are reminded that no matter what they have been through in life, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We organize events and create opportunities to enable them become exposed to diverse information and tools aimed at helping them to achieve their highest potentials in life, despite their previous or present circumstance.

One unique strategy employed by Centre for African Justice in reaching out to broken women is the use of women to empower women. Centre for African Justice believes that there are many reasons why women are in a better position to empower, motivate and lift up other women. Based on this, we use very successful and influential African Women as tools for motivating and coaching younger ones to keep focus and achieve their dream fulfilled lives.

Our Women Empowerment Project as an instrument of Peace Building:

This project also aims at grooming young women to become agents of peace in the society. As Peace is the foundation of every society, we use our Women Empowerment Project as an avenue to empower young African women to become instruments/agents of peace in the society while striving to achieve their highest potentials in life. At our events, women are trained to perform impressive roles as peace builders and peace keepers for the benefit of their immediate society and the world at large.

Contact Centre for African Justice for more information about this project.

Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights (CAJPHR) and partners work with African stakeholders to provide essential school facilities for students in impoverished communities. CAJPHR’s Right to Quality Education Project (the Project) supports communities that lack the infrastructure to provide a safe education environment for their students. We help these communities build and upgrade existing school facilities so they can provide a non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environment.

CAJPHR and its partners are guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4. More specifically we are focused on 4.A, promoting lifelong learning opportunities by “building and upgrading education facilities that are child, disability, and gender sensitive in order to provide a safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environment” (UN, 2018). CAJPHR and its partners work tirelessly to reduce the dropout rate of students by ensuring they have access to the most basic facilities such as basic drinking water and basic sanitation.

WHY WE DO THIS

Children need access to a safe learning environment and a quality education. Access to a safe and secure learning environment is essential if we want to improve the standard of living for the most vulnerable in society. Any country that has a poor education system is more likely to have unacceptable social inequalities.

Despite the demand for better education services and facilities across the African continent some local and national governments struggle to provide safe non-violent inclusive learning environments. Some reasons for this include on-going conflicts, a lack of resources to build and maintain education facilities, or a lack of basic infrastructure and resource persons to provide students with basic education services.

CAJPHR believes that access to basic education is essential for the sustainable development of peoples, institutions, and resources. CAJPHR Right to Quality Education Project is way to start closing the gap between the quality and standard of education received in impoverished communities and the rest of the developing world.

NB: Keep checking our Website for project updates and more information on our Right to Quality Education Projects.

OVERVIEW OF RIGHT TO QUALITY EDUCATION PROJECTS

2018 BENEFICIARYCOUNTRY: NigeriaSTATE: Enugu StateFINANCIAL STATUS: Funded by our partners and presently ongoingPROJECT TITLE: Provision of Clean Water and Basic Sanitation Facilities for 700 School Children

BRIEF PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The CAJPHR project in Enugu State, Nigeria will immediately improve the learning environment for 700 children and improve the learning space for future generations.

When we arrived at the School there were four dysfunctional toilets servicing 700 children and school staff. These bathroom facilities fell into a state of disrepair because the school did not have access to a continuous source of water for cleaning and maintenance.

Our Investigations revealed that school children preferred defecating in the bushes and gardens around the school premises. The lack of clean running water and an effective sanitation system puts these children at a risk because searching for water or a suitable place to relieve themselves exposes them to dangers outside the school’s campus which include road accidents and criminal organizations that operate in the area.

CAJPHR main objective is to repair the existing water facilities and provide clean and safe bathroom facilities.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:

The specific aims of the project include:

1) The construction of a Water Well.2) Installation of a water reservoir used for sourcing and storing water. These Water Wells and Overhead Tanks will provide basic drinking water, basic sanitation facilities and, basic handwashing facilities to the students and school staff.3) The project will end with the construction of a two room toilet facility connected to the Water Tanks for instant flushing after use.4) Renovation of 4 old toilets.

The Project will provide basic drinking water and basic toilet facilities for 700 school children. CAJPHR is organizing the construction of Water Well with a water pumping machine and an overhead tank. The entire Water Well system is to be constructed inside the school premises with six water outlets. In addition, the Project will construct two new toilets facilities and renovate the four already existing rooms therefore creating six safe bathroom facilities for the students and their care givers.

PROJECT PLAN:

A two stage approach to provide clean water and toilet facilities for 700 school children.

A Water Well with a water pumping machine and an overhead Tank will be constructed. The entire Water Well system will be constructed inside the school premises with about six water outlets.

The construction of two new toilet rooms and the renovation of the existing four toilets and room that house them. The end of the second phase will leave the School with a total of six toilets.

The project aims at creating awareness on sexual violence perpetrated against the male gender in conflict, post conflict and peace situations. The objective of the sexual violence project is to conduct desk and field research, create awareness, break the silence, change stereotypes, publish articles , engage stakeholders and policy makers in conversations on the subject and advocate for change of legislations in domestic jurisdictions where sexual violence against men and boys is not recognised. We strongly believe that by conducting research and continuously initiating conversations on this subject, there would be a rise in exchange of best practices between international and domestic jurisdictions on conflict-related sexual violence against males; as more attention will be given to the subject which has received less legal and social attention over the years.

CAJPHR organises annual conferences on sexual violence perpetrated against the male gender. At the conference, we invite resource persons from various backgrounds working on the issue of male sexual violence, such as Judges, Lawyers, Psychologists, Medical experts, legislators, Prosecutors, Academics, NGOs, religious organisations and law students, among others. Victims are not left out of the conversation as we bring male victims on board to share their experiences at the Conference. While some victims are courageous to reveal their identity, others prefer anonymity. The conference shall have the following aims:

Create evidence of existence of male sexual violence.

Create a platform for exchange of best practices between prosecution of sexual violence in domestic law and international law.

iii.Raise awareness and change stereotypes.

Invite, encourage and publish academic research on sexual violence against men and boys.

Raise campaign for empowerment and support of male victims’.

RESEARCH AND DATABASE PROJECT (RDP)

This Project provides resources on sexual violence against the Male gender in International law and domestic law, using Africa as a focus in terms of domestic laws. The project aims to create a comprehensive database containing laws in African countries on sexual violence against the male gender in particular. The Database will contain information about existing laws, statutes, decided cases, policy papers, books and articles on sexual violence in the region of focus. Resources on the procedure for reporting, investigating and prosecuting sexual violence in the jurisdictions mentioned above will be provided in the database which will be updated in line with recent jurisdictional legal developments.

The Database Project will create a one stop research point with information about past and present developments in prosecuting sexual violence in international Courts and Tribunals as well as domestic African Courts. This would expose existing gaps in legislation and policies and help researchers /policy makers make stronger policies on how to strengthen the legal protection for male victims of sexual violence in conflict and peace situations.

We strongly believe that, sufficient resources on sexual violence against males will break stereotypical ideologies and the silence surrounding rape of men and other forms of sexual violence. It would also expose the strategies of perpetrators, encourage reporting and attract more efforts towards victim support.

The Database Project aims at providing an evidentiary value to our work by publishing testimonies of male victims of sexual violence. CAJPHR has and is collecting testimonies of survivors of male sexual violence. Some testimonies have already been uploaded on our website and are accessible to all. In pursuing this project, due regard has been given to keep the identity of the victims confidential in case they wish so. There is also a possibility to have an interactive skype session with the victims willing to speak at our events and conferences. Such testimonies enable other survivors to gather courage to speak up and learn survival techniques.

LEGAL WRITING AND PUBLICATION PROJECT (LWPP)

Research has shown that sexual violence against men and boys is largely under reported, under discussed, under researched and under documented. In many domestic jurisdictions, gender specific definition of rape remain in existence in line with assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes surrounding sexual violence in general and sexual violence against males in particular. In international law, though some institutions, courts and tribunals seem to have progressed or developed in terms of statutory provisions governing male sexual violence, there appears to be an apparent gap in practice in terms of uniform applicability. There is dearth of international criminal law judicial precedence on male sexual violence and so much divergence in the response of International Courts/Tribunals on the subject.

CAJPHR finds it imperative that there should be sufficient available literature, in form of written articles, videos, poetry, reports, victim’s testimonies, survey questions, interviews, vox- populi, artistic drawing, graphic designs and books to encourage research and constant publication on social media and in print.

We also

◆ Engage in dialogues for Human Rights in Africa◆ Engage in dialogues for Peace in Africa ◆ Engage in dialogues for Justice in Africa◆ Providing support and access to the right to Medical Health in Africa

Through the support of our sponsors and volunteers, we conduct trainings, create awareness, organise campaigns and educate people on matters pertaining to justice, peace and human rights. With the collaboration of legal and medical experts from around the globe, we conduct legal and medical outreach in African Countries. We promote education at the grassroots by applying for charity to sponsor projects in public primary schools. Some of the projects include sinking of water boreholes, donation of seats, books and other reading materials to the schools. We build capacity in different fields of expertise however, we go extra mile to build capacity in Human Rights and Criminal Law.